League Sanctioning

[ClarkAddison]

Can anyone give me input for having my youth league involved with USA Roller Sports or USA Inline Hockey? I'm looking for pros and cons. I'm not interested in "we had a bad ref once" type stories but how are they with all levels from house to travel and tournament. Has anyone gone through certification from either one. Coaches, players, referees or league administrators.
I have a house league program that has to compete finacially with the local soccer league for participants. If I'm going to have to charge more for players to join it has to be worth it.

[jrmatte]

The sanctioning you chose is up to you as far as insurance is concerned USA Inline is good but as far as charging more to compete is all in your hands. If you charge more $$ you most be willing to make this league different and better than any other league in the area. As a player/coach I look for leagues that have great officiating. Guys that know the rules and dont make them up from game to game. You should train the officials the way YOU want them to call games not how usa wants them to call games. AND STAND FIRM in your convictions. I f a guy (ref) is not cutting him FIRE him and set an example to the other officials and let the coachs/teams see that you mean business. And other the other foot when you back and officials call you will be taken seriously and not looked upon as someone desperate to keep your officials. THIS is YOUR league and should be ran they way YOU would want to play. Make sure you do this and the teams will not care about the dollar amount to play.
Thank You and I hope I answered your questions.
Just remember even though one of the sanctioning bodies tests your officials have your own testing and standards YOU want followed if they aren't replace those officials.
Jim [email protected]

[sniper12]

I would recommend NARCh sanction.

[Skatemore]

There certainly are many choices out there right now for becoming affliliated. (See my post on who should be the governing body of inline hockey)

As a rink owner, we are wrestling with this right now. We want the sport of inline hockey to grow. It seems that all the organizations have strong and weak points and aren't real good at playing together in the same sandbox yet.

USA Inline is part of USA Hockey which has been around for 60 years. They have a medical policy that can be either primary or secondary with a $1000 deductible. They have nice training videos, ref certifications and hold lots of tournaments. Disadvantage is every player in your facility must register with them if you affiliate with them and they will not hold tournaments with you like their regionals without affiliation.

USARS just revamped their program totally. Created different smaller regions, appointing regional directors that are facility owners and have new inline directors, along with many new executive directors that have marketing backrounds. This has been needed for a long time. $25.00 per year is membership, you get insurance of some kind, newletters, ref training program, coach certification. USARS teams go to the Pan Am games, which is a first step towards getting the sport into the Olympics when enough countries participate.

TORHS is doing marvelous things, same type of membership fee, ref certification, they will hold a regionals at an unaffiliated rink, they are delightful to work with and promoting the sport of inline hockey well.

Our problem, is 1. New players who just want to play, not tournaments should not have to join association. 2. We want the sport to grow, not just a governing body. By affiliated exclusively with one organization or another you limit yourself and your players.

We wish all the organizations could join together for the benefit of the sport and help inline hockey grow to the size that ice hockey is. It's a different sport and needs it's own place in sports.
Just our two cents :)